After getting fired from her advertising job, Melissa Ben-Ishay went home and baked some cupcakes (her go-to daily staple). Turns out this was the BEST action step she could have taken. Today, Baked by Melissa, the New York City-based brand is famous for its signature, bite-size cupcakes and treats that are only 50 calories each!

Passionate about baking since childhood with the idea that people should taste a cupcake “guilt free,” she decided to do what she loved and launched Baked by Melissa in 2008.

She’s absolutely hilarious and what I love most is her complete transparency.

Lisa Sugar really disliked her job but unlike so many, she did something about it. After starting a personal blog that went viral (we’re talking over 1 million followers in 1 year), Lisa Sugar knew that she was on to something. She ditched her day job and not long after, her husband did too.

Currently, POPSUGAR is now the #1 lifestyle brand for young women, and has just introduced a brand new beauty line.

Lizanne Falsetto ditched a college basketball scholarship for an international modeling career. While on the road, Lizanne found herself hungry but didn’t like the fast food options so she created her own high-protein, zero-sugar, food-on-the-go snack, what we now call the thinkThin® bar! It set a trend as the FIRST protein bar to be gluten-free.

Lizanne went on to create a lifestyle brand and a national market leader. She ultimately sold thinkThin® to Glambia, Inc. in 2016 for $215 million dollars. Wow.

The No. 1 thing that I would say to the women out there who want to learn about cash flow is to always keep your payables (what you have to pay) at least 20% lower than your receivables (the money coming in).” – Lizanne Falsetto

Show Notes:

WHY she declined the basketball college scholarship

HOW Lizanne turned her kitchen experiment into a multi-million dollar company

HOW she kept growing & scaling the entrepreneurial mountain

What BASKETBALL taught her about BUSINESS

SIMPLE, smart, cash flow secrets

Why Lizanne brought HER CHILDREN to work

Her BIGGEST Challenge – real, raw truth here

HOW she overcame her toughest moments

And much, much more…

I knew I had to surround myself with the best. And I always had that mentality, but it is almost to the point where you bring people in who are smarter than you.” – Lizanne Falsetto

A few weeks ago, I took a vacation with my family to New York City. While there, we visited the American Girl® store. My daughter Jenna loves this store, and it’s easy to understand why so many girls are attracted to this brand. When you enter the store, the “experience” begins. This got me thinking about how Smart Women could learn from American Girl® how to build a business image or brand that lasts.

Recently, my son Jack and I went to the local bookstore in search of the book Harry Potter 4. We have an agreement that we will read each Harry Potter book in the series together and then watch the movie. This has two wonderful benefits: One, I get to spend quality time reading a great series with my son and, two, I’m hoping it will increase his love of reading as much as Greg and I enjoy reading.

When we located the book, I picked up the hardback edition (which was extremely heavy) and then chose the paperback version, as it would be much easier to hold. I compared the fourth book to the first book in the series and noticed how much thicker the books become as the storyline progresses. This got me thinking about how smart women build businesses in the same way.

When J.K. Rowling (a very smart woman) wrote Harry Potter 1, she created an amazing story with a handful of characters that you wanted to follow and know their every move. Each book is more captivating than the last. When women create a new business from their Big ideas, they typically begin with a single idea or two and take action to make it happen. The “story” begins to unfold with one or two products or services and from there, the business has the opportunity to grow and become much larger.

One example that quickly comes to mind is Bobbi Brown cosmetics. If you know her story, she was a makeup artist that was dissatisfied with the product lines she was working with and went on to create her own line of cosmetics. To make a very long story short, Bobbi Brown cosmetics is owned today by Estee Lauder. Her single idea turned into a multi-million dollar enterprise. Your business is like a story that continues to grow, adding new and interesting products and services over time.

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